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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24028840">A Faux it Was (She Shook Afraid)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl'>YellowMagicalGirl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Wings, Amnesiac Character, Amnesiac Claire Nuñez, Angor Rot gets mentioned a bunch, Angst with a Happy Ending, Body Horror, Butch Jim Lake Jr., Don't copy to another site, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fae &amp; Fairies, Fairy Claire Nuñez, Female Jim Lake Jr., Genderbending, Or at least it was before I decided to be punny, Pre-Femslash, So does Morgana, Tales of Arcadia Femslash Week, Title from a Hozier Song, Wings, discussions of mercy killing, no one dies</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:40:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,788</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24028840</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>As the Trollhunter, she answers every call. Even when that call comes from Morgana's injured apprentice.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Faux it Was (She Shook Afraid)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was originally written for Tales of Arcadia Femslash Week, an event that took place over a year ago, except for the fact that this got lost in my drafts.</p><p>This takes place in an earlier version of my Determinant AU from back when Jim (known as Jennifer "Jen" Lake in this universe because this entire AU is based off a very sapphic dream I had) was still the Trollhunter instead of Darci. In addition, Claire was kidnapped by Morgana as a child and goes by the name Fontaine de Morgan (yes this is a reference to the OG book).</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jen walked her bike through the woods near her house. While riding was faster, she was already sore from training and didn’t want to fall in the dark. Besides, something felt <em>off</em> tonight. She ran her hand through her short hair before making a fist and twirling the ends through her fingers; it was a nervous habit she had picked up back when she had realized she was butch and had cut her hair down to a pixie cut. She heard a pained scream, and she took off running as she summoned her armor.</p><p>She found her classmate curled into an awkward half-fetal position. Fontaine had a stab wound where her shoulder met her chest. She looked up towards Jen. Her brown eyes were filled with fear. She squeezed them shut and turned her head to expose her neck.</p><p>“Just do it fast,” Fontaine said with a tone of finality and helplessness. It took a moment for Jen to realize what the other girl was talking about.</p><p>“What? No! I’m <em>not</em> going to kill you,” Jen said. She dismissed her armor to prove it, leaned her bike against a tree, and then knelt down next to her. Fontaine opened her eyes.</p><p>“Why?” she asked. “Let’s face it, I’ve double-crossed you before.” She moved her injured shoulder about a centimeter and gasped in pain. Tears formed in her brown eyes, and she barely made an effort to blink them away.</p><p>“Yeah, well, <em>I</em> don’t want to make a habit of kicking people while they’re down, and the fact that you <em>want </em>me to mercy-kill you means that you’re in really bad shape and likely not to try and fireball my face off. What’s your parents’ number?”</p><p>Somehow Fontaine looked even more crestfallen. “I don’t have... no, that isn’t true. I don’t know who they are. That’s probably the reason why this happened.”</p><p>“Who would try <em>stabbing </em>you for something like <em>that?” </em>In addition to outrage, Jen couldn’t help but be worried. Was there someone trying to hurt people for being orphans or something? If so, then Toby could be in danger.</p><p>“Angor Rot.”</p><p>“Isn’t he supposed to be working with you? I’m gonna try to get to get you on your feet, sorry if it hurts.”</p><p>Fontaine gasped as she was lifted, but to her credit once she started to unfold her legs she was able to push herself into a standing position. A hunched-over standing position, and she leaned on Jen heavily, but it was still standing.</p><p>“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to really walk,” Fontaine said. Her voice was strained, and unusually soft.</p><p>Jen carefully took Fontaine’s hand, and with her other arm she grabbed her bike and dragged it over to the two of them.</p><p>“Would you rather sit behind me or in front of me? Also, can you conjure a fireball or anything, for light?”</p><p>“Behind, you <em>know </em>I have a back injury.” Jen bit her lip slightly. She had exploited the fact that Fontaine had a bad back before, if only to keep the spellcaster from hurting her and Toby. Now that she thought about it, they hadn’t fought Fontaine much since the play and Killahead.</p><p>“You also have a stab wound on the front side of you so it’s kind of a moot point.” Jen climbed on the bike in front of Fontaine; Fontaine reached around her to grip one of the handles. When she released the handle, it glowed with a slightly flickering purple light.</p><p>“Thanks,” Jen said, glancing behind herself. Fontaine was looking a little pale. “I’m going to take you to my house, unless you would rather go to the hospital? I don’t know if my mom’s home or not.”</p><p>“No hospital.” Fontaine snaked her arms around Jen’s torso and held on tightly as Jen peddled. Jen was glad Fontaine couldn’t see her face, because a blush was creeping onto Jen’s face. She had had a crush on Fontaine before Fontaine had revealed that she was working with the changelings, and maybe it hadn’t fully gone away.</p><p>Jen’s mom wasn’t home. There was a note stuck to the inside of the door, saying that she needed to cover a shift at the hospital. Well, at least Jen could avoid telling her mom the truth about trolls and magic for at least a little while longer. Jen knew enough about first aid and patching herself and Toby up after fights that she could hopefully fix Fontaine’s stab wound.</p><p>“Can you make it up the stairs?” Jen asked. “If not, I can bring the bandages and stuff down from where I’ve been keeping them.”</p><p>She had been keeping a second kit away from where her mom would find it, if only so that Jen could keep her from worrying and finding out the truth.</p><p>“I, I can,” Fontaine said, voice wavering. She was leaning very heavily on Jen; Jen was glad they were similar heights.</p><p>“So, um, you mentioned that Angor stabbed you because you don’t know who your parents are?”</p><p>“I was told I was abandoned at the mouth of the cave I grew up in,” Fontaine said. Her voice was slurred. “That’s what my Lady told me, and why would I disbelieve her?”</p><p>It was hard for Jen to tell if that last part was genuinely sarcastic or just sounded that way because Fontaine was in pain. Jen guided Fontaine towards her room.</p><p>“Except,” Fontaine continued, “when she sent me to Arcadia, to stop you, I started to remember being eight and younger and living in Arcadia, and the cave was in Bulgaria, and that didn’t make <em>sense.”</em> The last word was hissed in pain.</p><p>Jen sat Fontaine down on her bed. When Jen finished getting the first aid kit from under her bed, Fontaine had collapsed into a fetal position. Jen pressed her lips together.</p><p>“Okay, I’m going to need to take your shirt off so I can clean the wound. Are you allergic to any pain medications?”</p><p>“Never, well, haven’t had any since I was eight.”</p><p>Jen gave Fontaine the pills and her half-full water bottle, and then helped Fontaine take her shirt off.</p><p>The stab wound had scabbed over, but the veins around it had turned an inky black and glowed with an eldritch purple light.</p><p>“Uh, has this ever happened to you before?” Jen asked as she covered her hands in sanitizer. She knew it would be better if she washed her hands, but she also felt uneasy about leaving Fontaine alone.</p><p>“It’s dark magic,” Fontaine said. “But, I’ve never gotten cracks from a wound before.”</p><p>“This is gonna sting but it’s supposed to,” Jen said, pouring disinfectant onto a cotton ball. She leaned in as she pressed it to Fontaine’s wound, partially due to the way Fontaine hugged Jen and hissed at the pain. Jen’s eyes widened as she was able to glance at Fontaine’s back. “Hey, Fontaine? I know you have a bad back, but does it normally glow and cracks the way your wound is?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>Jen pulled out her phone and took a picture before showing it to Fontaine.</p><p>“That’s not -” Fontaine whimpered - “normal.”</p><p>“Okay. Is it okay if I touch it? I don’t want to use the wrong bandage and hurt you further.” Fontaine nodded, but then screamed as Jen touched one of the two raised lines along her back.</p><p>“Too much pressure!” Fontaine didn’t stop hugging Jen, though.</p><p>“Sorry, sorry, I barely touched you but sorry.” Jen pulled away slightly to grab an adhesive bandage and stick it over the stab wound.</p><p>“I didn’t think she’d be so, <em>mad,</em> at me,” Fontaine said softly, eyes downcast. “I thought she’d be okay with me trying to find my parents. Let me choose if I wanted to spare them from the Eternal Night. I mean, I wouldn’t be able to save <em>everyone</em> I cared about, but... I thought she wouldn’t take it as a betrayal.”</p><p>“Are you still loyal to her?”</p><p>Fontaine’s shoulders raised defensively, and she hissed in pain at the movement. “She betrayed me first. I guess I should’ve known. I mean, she has <em>so many names,</em> and it was only because of you that I got to have <em>one.”</em> Fontaine’s face scrunched, and Jen couldn’t tell if it was in pain or in anger. “Then again, she also <em>stole</em> my first name from me, just like she must’ve had her changelings steal me from my parents.”</p><p>After a few minutes, Jen pulled away. “My mom won’t be home until tomorrow afternoon, so you can take my bed. I’ll take the floor, feel free to wake me if you need anything.”</p><p>Jen awoke several hours later to the sound of pained sobs. She sat up, and gasped at the sight of Fontaine. Inky veins surrounded her eyes, which had changed to purple and black. Fontaine’s ears were bloody, and the tops of the skin had peeled back to reveal raw flesh and pointed tips. The worst of it was her back, though.</p><p>Fontaine had borrowed a set of Jen’s pajamas for the night, and had put the button-up shirt on backwards. Jen hadn’t been sure if it was because Fontaine genuinely didn’t know she was putting on the shirt wrong, or if she was trying to just keep the pressure off her back, but either way the horror of it was fully exposed to Jen. The cracks had multiplied, and they wept a fluid that reminded Jen of oil. Black, but in the light of the amulet it reflected purple light.</p><p>“Fontaine, do you want me to take you to the hospital?” Jen’s voice shook. She had been less scared when Angor had first used Daylight against her, less scared than she was now.</p><p>“No,” Fontaine half-moaned, half-croaked. “Water?”</p><p>Jen grabbed her water bottle, and maneuvered Fontaine into a semi-sitting position so she could drink.</p><p>Fontaine’s eyes rolled back into her head, and she pitched forward. Jen rushed to catch her before she could hit the floor.</p><p>Two large, iridescent dark purple wings erupted from Fontaine’s back.</p><p>“H-hey,” Fontaine said when she came to half a minute later. “My back feels bet- <em>what are those?”</em></p><p>“Um, so I guess you weren’t expecting wings either?”</p><p>“But <em>how?</em> Fairies are extinct, and, and, and I’m <em>human.”</em> Fontaine’s voice edged on hysterical. “My <em>parents</em> are human. I don’t remember them, but I’d think I’d remember <em>if they had wings!”</em></p><p>“Maybe the Pale Lady tried to kill you by turning you into a fairy? We could ask Blinky.”</p><p>“Jen, I appreciate your help, but I doubt your allies feel the same way about helping me.”</p><p>“I mean, I’ll vouch for you.” Fontaine’s smile was small, and disbelieving, but Jen appreciated it nonetheless.</p>
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